‘Korean Peninsula Issue’ Raised at U.S.-China Summit; Eyes on Future U.S.-North Korea Relations

[Financial News] U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were confirmed to have discussed the Korean Peninsula issue during their recent summit. Although the specific details of their conversation were not disclosed, attention is focused on whether efforts to resume U.S.-North Korea dialogue will continue, as President Trump is scheduled to visit China in November.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said on the 26th that the U.S. and Chinese leaders exchanged views on major international and regional issues, including the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, during talks held at the White House on the 24th. The ministry did not separately disclose how the Korean Peninsula issue was discussed at the summit.
President Trump has repeatedly expressed his willingness to resume dialogue with Kim Jong Un. As he has made conciliatory moves toward North Korea, including scaling back recent U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, some have interpreted them as a sign that he is considering a resumption of summit diplomacy.
Against this backdrop, attention is also focused on China's role as it strengthens ties with North Korea. Bonnie Lin, director for China affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), explained that relations between North Korea and China have been growing closer, noting that Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un exchanged congratulatory letters six times this year and that high-level delegations from the two countries exchanged visits on five occasions.
Xi Jinping invited President Donald Trump and Melania Trump to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will be held in Shenzhen on November 18–19. President Trump said, "We will meet again in China in November, and then meet once more at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Miami, Florida, in December."
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that President Trump was pressing his aides to arrange a meeting with Kim Jong Un as early as this fall and that they had privately discussed the possibility of meeting Kim face to face during his next visit to Asia.
However, North Korea has reportedly not responded to U.S. overtures for dialogue to date.
[email protected] Kim Hyun-ji Reporter